The entrance to the palace

East and north pavilions of the palace

Radziwiłł Palace (Lithuanian: Radvilų rūmai) is a Late Renaissance palace in the Old Town of Vilnius, Lithuania. It had been the second palace of Radziwiłłs by importance in Vilnius and the largest one.

[edit] History

It is likely that Mikołaj "the Black" Radziwiłł's wooden Vilnius mansion was on the same site, but the current building was constructed by the order of Janusz Radziwiłł from 1635 until 1653, according to the design by Jan Ullrich. The building fell in ruin after the Muscovite invasion 1655-1660 and remain mostly neglected for centuries. It was further devastated during World War I and only the northern wing of the palace survived. Eventually, it was restored in 1980s and a division of the Lithuanian Art Museum is located there today. Part of palace is still under renovation today.

[edit] Architecture

Being the only survived Renaissance palace in Vilnius it has features of the Netherlands Renaissance as well as Manneristic decorations native to the Lithuanian Renaissance architecture. Its original layout and symmetry of structural elements was distinctive to the palaces of the Late French Renaissance resembling that of Château de Fontainebleau and Luxembourg Palace in Paris.

[edit] External links

• (Lithuanian) Official website

Coordinates: 54°41′02″N 25°16′49″E / 54.68389°N 25.28028°E / 54.68389; 25.28028

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